With the recession hitting hard this year, we all want to find the best bang for our buck. The Consumer Electronics Association reported that overall, holiday spending will drop about 3 percent in 2009 (though that's actually an improvement over the abrupt 15 percent drop of last year). Even so, we'll still be buying plenty of tech gifts: The top this year will likely be MP3 players, video game consoles, and digital cameras, said the CEA. Consumers can also expect to see prices on Blue-ray players drop to $49, netbooks to $129, and 50-inch plasma TVs to $599.

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Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving, famous for holiday shopping and sales) is the best day to find these bargains. But with so many stores offering deals, howand wheredo you start looking?

According to Dealnews.com, the easiest way to save money on Black Friday is to stay home and shop online. But whether you do all your shopping digitally or wake up at the crack of dawn to line up and snag those doorbuster deals, you need to have a plan. So, to help you sort through the whirlwind of information, we found some of the best Black Friday Web sites out there. Each offers a different feel and interface, but all of them provide great deals and information. Ladies and gentlemen, start your shopping!

BlackFriday.FM
BlackFriday.FM is one of the only Black Friday deals sites that integrate social networking. You can sign in with Facebook Connect or via your Twitter account and share ads you're looking at and which ads you like. You'll find a printable one-page Black Friday buying guide, which allows you to view each ad individually. And view the best Black Friday ads separated by category, such as the best TV deals, the best camera deals, and the best laptop deals.

BlackFriday.info
With over 55 official Black Friday adsand more to comeBlackFriday.info posts deals as well as actual Black Friday ad scans. It also has a news section to keep you up to speed with the latest ad news. The site offers thousands of coupons and coupon codes separated by store, category, "recently added," and "expiring soon." You'll also find a Shopping List feature, which lets you click on the item you want and add it to a list, separated by store.

Amazon.com/Black-Friday
Amazon started Black Friday early with a week of Black Friday deals: The site's already discounted merchandise is marked down even more. Check calendars in different departments to find out when certain products will be on sale throughout the week. Since you'll do the shopping here too, you don't even have to leave your living room.

Dealnews.com
Dealnews.com's Black Friday section is overflowing with bargains: It features 71 stores and offers 9,463 ads. The site also has a Price Matching page, which provides phone numbers to major retail stores so that you can compare prices and make sure you're getting the best deal. Read the latest Black Friday news, and even get tips for how to make the best of your Black Friday with the dealnews Black Friday Strategy Guide. If you're an iPhone owner, make sure to download the free dealnews Black Friday App, which shows what ads are rumored or confirmed, as well as displays discounts that are of a percent-off, dollars-off, or free.

Black-Friday.net
Black-Friday.net shares similarities with BlackFriday.info, but has more of a blog feel to it in terms of the layout. One feature I like is that you can browse by "Most Popular Products," to see what some of the hottest items will be this year. The site also lets you see which merchants are currently running early Black Friday sales. These sales are just as good or better than the ones you'll find on Black Friday, and are definitely worth checking out.

TechSaver.com
We don't want to toot our own hornokay, yes we do. TechSaver, the newest blog in the PCMag blog family, is here to find you the best deals in all things tech-related. The site has been keeping up with Black Friday deals, so make sure check the site often, and subscribe to the TechSaver Twitter for up-to-the-minute updates.

For your everyday deal hunting, check out TechBargains.com to find the coupons and deals you need to help you save all year round.

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About the Author

Jennifer Bergen started as an intern in 2008, writing for PCMag's blog network, and joined the PCMag team full-time shortly after. She has written for Geek.com, Gearlog, AppScout, GoodCleanTech, TechSaver, ZDNet, and ConsumerSearch. She also specializes in finding great deals, both inside and outside the world of consumer tech products. Hailing fro... See Full Bio

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